Being outdoors is one of the ways I often most experience God. Nothing is expected of me as I observe the fuzzy red buds that have fallen to the ground as maple trees pop out their tiny green leaves. I can simply enjoy the smell of a cold stream carrying along the debris of decaying leaves, rainwater and dirt. It feels like a miracle, albeit ordinary seeing purple hyacinths sprout out of the somewhat still frozen ground and bloom into rich fragrant blossoms whose smell is carried along in the windy April days.

Last year when it dawned on me that Good Friday and Earth Day are both being celebrated on the same day the words of Romans 8 sprang to mind; “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed…groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time”